


i love you, ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

by saviorccmplex



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: First Kiss, High School, Kissing, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, beverly marsh and eddie kaspbrak best friend rights, eddie kaspbrak is a fire ball, eddie kaspbrak is angry and in love, richie ignores eddie for a week, richie tozier has a crazy amount of repressed trauma, richie tozier is a crybaby, they love each other though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saviorccmplex/pseuds/saviorccmplex
Summary: Richie had been radio silent for a fucking week and it’s driving Eddie insane. No calls, no saying hello in the hallways in school, he doesn’t even look at him during lunch. Eddie’s about to kill him.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 131
Collections: Reddie at its finest





	i love you, ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

**Author's Note:**

> some TW, there are a lot of talks about eddie's home life, and things he does to cope with it.

**_EARLY 1993._ **

  
  


Richie had been radio silent for a fucking  _ week  _ and it’s driving Eddie insane. No calls, no saying hello in the hallways in school, he doesn’t even  _ look _ at him during lunch. Eddie’s about to kill him. 

Richie will talk to everyone but him. Every time he talks to Stan or Bill, Eddie wants to set him on fire. It makes him  _ angry _ . 

The thing is, Richie doesn’t look happier. He looks  _ miserable _ . He always has a sad puppy dog look on his face, and Eddie hates that too. 

He hates everything about Richie right now. 

He hates that he hates everything about Richie. 

Bev’s noticed whatever is going on. She pulled him aside during their free period and asked him what was going on. 

“What the fuck is going on with you and Richie?” She whispered. 

Eddie threw his arms up in a shrug, “Ask him, he just stopped talking to me. He avoids me.” He said, bitter. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” She says. 

That barks a laugh out of Eddie. (First time he’s laughed in a week.) He pretends he doesn’t notice Richie’s fast glance up to him. 

Beverly promises to talk to Richie, even though Eddie says not to worry. She insists, and there is no way he’s going to be able to stop her. 

  
  
  


Beverly calls Eddie later that night. She tells him that she talked to Richie.

“He says that you guys just drifted away.” 

Eddie pinches the bridge of his nose, “That is such bull- _ shit. _ ” He whispers the last part of the sentence, in fear of his mother hearing him. “He’s the one who just stopped talking to me.”

“Do you want me to talk to him again?” She asks, she won't do it again if he says no.

“No, I’ll call him. He can’t avoid me over the phone.” 

They say their goodbyes. It doesn’t feel good to Eddie, though. That was a hard blow for him to take when he thinks about it more. He can’t believe Richie said that about him. It hurt. 

He angrily dials Richie’s number (out of all of his friends, it’s the only one he has memorized.) 

“Tozier residence!” He hears Richie’s voice ring throughout the phone. 

No matter how much he hates it, there’s nothing he can do to stop the ping in his heart when he hears Richie’s voice. 

“Richie,” Eddie says. 

“Eds?” Richie sounds, he sounds a little choked. 

“I’m going to really need you to not call me that right now,” Eddie says, stone cold. 

“Yeah, shit, I’m sorry.” 

“For what part? Calling me Eds, or  _ fucking _ ignoring me for a week.” 

“Both, I guess.” Richie sighs.

“You guess?” 

“Oh fuck you, you know what I meant.” 

“Actually, I don’t. Goodnight, Rich. Fuck you.” Eddie hangs up the phone. 

Eddie is convinced that couldn’t have gone worse. His face feels hot and angry. He thinks he wants to cry. 

Another thing he doesn’t want to deal with, his mother. He thinks she's still awake in the living room watching whatever dull TV show she watches. He peeks around the corner door to see if she’s awake. 

Thankfully, her eyes are closed and her mouth is half-open. He dashes past her chair and runs quietly up the stairs. It’s something he’s mastered. 

After fighting with Richie, he’d do anything to not have to talk to his mother for as long as possible. 

His room is cold and empty and the second he shuts his door he wants to cry. Everything feels so  _ shitty _ , and he can’t talk to anyone. He doesn’t want to wake his mom up, and he doesn’t want his friends to find out whatever is going on between him and Richie. (They’ve already picked up on it.)

He sits on his bed and places his head in his hands. It feels like the whole world is going to swallow him whole. His head hurts and he’s hot and angry. 

He feels silly. All of this drama because Richie won’t pay attention to him? Then he starts to think. He gets himself worked up about how Richis is his best friend, and how  _ he _ must have done something wrong. He has to keep himself from hyperventilating. 

He hears a knock on his window. He whips his head around. It’s Richie. 

He reels his head back and gets up to open the window. 

“What do you want?” He asks coldly. 

“I want to explain myself and say I’m sorry,” Richie says, he sounds out of breath. 

“It better be some damn good explanation.”

  
  


\----------------------

Eddie sat next to Richie in his bedroom. 

“Don’t let my mom hear you.” He whispers, breaking the silence. 

“I’m not trying to get you in trouble, you know. I won’t be loud.”

They sit in silence again. It’s awkward. It isn’t the comfortable silence he’s used to, it’s miserable, and he wants Richie to leave. He chews on his bottom lip.

He turns his head to look at Richie. Richie opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, and closes it a final time. 

“So are you going to tell me why you’re in my bedroom, after being a total dick to me on the phone, or are we going to sit here in silence?” 

Richie nods, he squeezes his eyes shut, “You have to promise me that you won’t hate me, or at least any more than you do right now.” 

“I’m not going to hate you,” Eddie reassures him, he feels kind of like a liar, because he hated Richie all this week, but maybe this will change his mind. 

“I’m going to say this with my eyes closed because it’s easier to pretend you’re not here. Sorry.” 

Eddie punches his arm lightly, it’s playful. 

“I think I’m in love with you, and it’s probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.” Richie’s eyes are still squeezed shut, Eddie’s mouth is agape. 

Richie continues, “ Not because I don’t like you, it’s because all of this repressed  _ shit _ I have in my brain. Every time I think about you there’s bowers in my head calling me,  _ y’know _ , or there’s your mom, she’s calling me ‘The Dirty Tozier Boy’. I avoided you because I felt  _ sick _ about how I feel. I know it’s a shitty excuse, but I am  _ so fucking sorry _ , Eds.” 

They sit there in silence. Eddie chews, swallows, and digests what Richie said to him. 

“Eds if you don’t say something I think I’m going to exp—”

Eddie cuts him off by kissing him square on the mouth. Maybe not square, it’s more half mouth, half cheek. Richie’s glasses bump Eddie’s head, it’s awkward and not very good. 

He pulls away, Richie’s eyes peel open. He goes to say something again, but Eddie has other plans. 

Eddie moves so he’s sitting in Richie’s lap. He quickly takes Richie’s glasses off and tosses them somewhere on the bed. He kisses Richie again, doing it right this time. 

It’s a lot to handle. He doesn’t really know where to put his hands. He wants to put them underneath Richie’s shirt, but he also wants to cup his face and stroke his cheekbones. It’s overwhelming. But it isn’t fireworks, it isn’t the answer to the universe (though, he thinks if he did this long enough, he could find it.) 

He pulls away, Richie chases his lips and pecks him once, then twice. 

Richie looks really happy, and then his bottom lip puffs out and his eyes start to water. 

“Rich, you okay?” Eddie asks, then Richie immediately starts bawling. 

Eddie wraps his arms around Richie’s neck. He pets Richie’s hair. 

“I’ve just been such a shitty person to you, and then you kiss me, but I still feel really terrible. I’m like, the worst friend ever.” 

Eddie laughs in his head about the word friend, different day, a different conversation, though. 

He unwraps himself from Richie, he places his hands on his shoulders. “Yeah, you were kind of a shitty friend, but I understand why you did it. I’m not angry anymore.” 

Richie nods, he takes the bottom of his palms and wipes his tears. He gathers himself up, takes his thumb and index finger to Eddie’s chin, and pulls him down to kiss him. With his fingers, he opens Eddie’s mouth slightly, just testing the waters. 

Eddie takes the small hint, and he opens his mouth wider than Richie was expecting.

He can feel Richie’s cheeks go hot. Richie makes a noise that almost makes Eddie stop and laugh, but he doesn’t. 

Richie isn’t very experienced in the kissing department. He kissed a kid when he was 12, and that was it. He didn’t care for him at all. Eddie remembers being angry and jealous, but not knowing why. He has an idea as to why now. 

Eddie’s a bit more experienced, though they weren’t great experiences, he’s learned some helpful things. First off being, how to kiss Richie. That’s probably the best thing he’s learned from all of the guys he can’t even remember right now. 

He feels warm, his gut feels warm. He decides to take a breather. 

Richie’s cheeks are rosy and hot. 

“Holy shit…” Richie giggles. 

“Shut up!” Eddie puts his head in his hands. 

“I mean, wow, Eds.” 

“I’m going to kick you out.” 

Richie fake gasps. 

Eddie climbs off of Richie, and Richie whines. 

That’s almost enough to convince Eddie to climb up on top of him, but his thighs burn and he’s tired. So he looks Richie in the eyes and shakes his head. Richie opens his mouth in shock (or like he’s going to say something.)

He has a better idea though, he swoops his arm underneath Eddie’s back and holds his head in the other. He moves Eddie to where he’s laying down, and Richie is hovering over him. 

Eddie goes red almost immediately, eyes wide. 

“Didn’t expect that?” Richie teases. 

To wipe the smug look off of Richie’s face, he kisses him. Richie’s more prepared this time. He’s gathered up how to do it right. 

It kind of knocks the wind out of Eddie. Richie Tozier is a good kisser because Eddie showed him how to be. The thought makes his face go bright red and hot. He’s thankful that it’s dark and Richie can’t see him. 

Richie gets adventurous and he kisses Eddie’s jaw. He trails kisses all the way to Eddie’s chin, and Eddie moves his face down to sneak a kiss on his mouth. 

Richie giggles, and after a week of  _ hell _ , not being able to hear it, it’s like coming up for air when he does hear it. 

Richie pulls himself off of Eddie and lays beside him. Eddie immediately misses him, but he decides to stay cool and do nothing. 

“Can we talk about this for a second?” Richie asks. 

Eddie turns on his side and looks at Richie and nods. 

“Are you kissing me because you want to be kissed, or do you actually like me? Or is it none of those and you just feel bad?” Richie asks

“Richie, c’mon, I think it’s obvious I like you too.” Eddie pauses, then whispers, “I think I might be in love with you too.” 

Richie’s head whips around to look at Eddie. His bottom lip puffs out again, but he doesn’t look sad. 

“Baby,” It slips out of Eddie’s mouth, “don’t cry.”

A tear leaks out of Richie’s eye, “I’m just really happy.” 

“Me too.” 

“Good,” Richie sniffles, “You deserve a good week, after what I put you through.” 

“It wasn’t that bad.” Eddie lies. 

“Bullshit, I’m really sorry.” Richie looks Eddie in the eye, he looks  _ so _ sincere. 

Eddie kisses him. It’s an  _ I forgive you _ . Richie kisses Eddie like he’s still saying he’s sorry. Eddie will take it. 

Richie pulls back, Eddie reads his face. Richie’s cheekbones are  _ nice _ , his cheeks are red, his eyes are red, and still kind of glossy. He looks like he’s considering something. 

“Let me make this week up to you.” He says.

Eddie furrows his brow, a questioning look. 

“I think people have said  _ Groundhog Day _ is really good. Let’s go see a movie.” He says. 

“Fine, but you’re buying my candy.” Eddie agrees. (He would’ve gone if he had to pay for his own  _ Junior Mints _ .) 

“Ed’s I’d buy you the whole theater.” Richie joke. 

Eddie kisses him again. He’ll never get used to this feeling Richie gives him. 

**Author's Note:**

> hi thank u for reading, follow me on twitter if u liked it. @townietozier


End file.
